Warm enough for tomatoes

Not only is it in the 70s today, the nights are above 50 degrees, my trigger point for transplanting tomatoes. Of course, I don't expect it to stay this way. Also, I have not even *started* my tomato plants yet.

A few flowers are responding to the sunshine and warm temps.

I'm first - I win!

The first of the daffodils are growing where I plan to locate a cold frame - and now you know why.

And in second place...

My SO helped me start filling the raised beds, where square foot gardening meets lasagna gardening. Sometimes I am a stickler for rules, but not in the garden. So instead of mixing together 1/3 peat, 1/3 of 5 different types of compost, and 1/3 vermiculite, we just layered the materials into the beds. For one thing, using that much vermiculite was going to be prohibitively expensive. For another, I think vegetables should be grown in the ground, even if that ground is raised, so I am including some garden soil - the clay will help retain moisture. Also, Home Depot had only two kinds of compost and I did not feel like driving around looking for more.

Peaty

So far, the layers are: homemade compost, wood ashes, leaves, newspaper, peat, mushroom compost, peat, composted manure, peat. Then I added more leaves yesterday, to keep the peat from blowing away. The beds seem "peat heavy" right now, because 3 cu. ft. of baled peat fluffs quite a bit when released from its packaging. But I anticipate adding no more peat to each bed. Instead, as these layers settle and become food for worms, more layers will be added, of grass clippings, leaves, manure, and homemade compost. That should do it - in theory, at least.

More fill!

We filled four of the eight beds. Hopefully, this weekend we will do four more. Then, at some point, I will need to mix up batches for the potato grow bags, sooner for the Irish potatoes and later for the sweet potatoes.

Speaking of sweet potatoes, my attempt to grow slips is a big FAIL so far. I am trying again, with a less wizened-looking potato this time. Also, I moved them out from under the grow lights. Does light hinder root development? Must research.

Proof

Here is evidence of the daffodils:

And some fungus under the forsythia:

Otherwise, the yard is still very dormant today. I dug around in the big compost piles, sifting some and turning most of the rest. What compost I did manage to glean went into the new raised beds.

I'm on the fence re square foot gardening "by the book". One is supposed to mix one's own potting soil, using peat moss, blended compost, and vermiculite. Finding vermiculite in anything other than small bags is difficult, and it is surprisingly expensive. I found some online at a better price, the the shipping was more than the vermiculite cost. Vermiculite is sometimes used as insulation (Menards carries it), but it is not clear to me if that is suitable for horticultural use. And then the amount of homemade potting soil needed to fill even one bed is a bit daunting to my pocketbook.

And yet, my soil is heavy clay, I have a major weed problem, and it would be wonderful to garden with something light and fluffy and at least initially weedfree, so the one-time expense seems worth it. I have a feeling I will probably mix square foot gardening with lasagna gardening, layering in newspaper, leaves, manure, etc. and topping it all with the special mix. Or I will make one or more batches but limit its use to the grow sacks, which at the end of the season can be dumped into the raised beds. Or...?

At loose ends

Now that my weekends are not spent almost totally in the yard, I don't know what to do with myself. Not that there aren't still things to do outside. Yesterday I gave up on the fall snap peas - they bloomed but never podded - and lasagna-gardened that last bed. Other than hoping to steal some leaves from a neighbor, I consider the garden done for the year.



The greenery on the right are rhubarb and herbs, the straw next to it the garlic.

Other tasks this weekend included raking the few leaves that are in my backyard, primarily so I can spot the doggy-doo when on poop patrol; protecting more plantings from winter rabbit damage (poultry netting is my friend!); and raking up the detritus from the hostas and lilies.

I have become quite the viburnum fan. I love the fall color of the 'Chicago Luster'.



And after reading about not-Canada thistles in A Weed By Any Other Name, I'm letting this fellow grow.



Hopefully, next year it will reward us with a lovely bloom. Which I will destroy before it goes to seed. After all, I don't want a thistle farm.

Stormy Weather

Thunder and lightning and sirens - oh my! Last night things got a bit wild weatherwise. Since I purchased a digital converter box for my ancient TV, I can view local weather from NOAA while listening to that weird voice mispronounce names of local towns. My dog Betsy hates storms, trembles and pants and tries to plaster herself against me. She already gets anxious when it rains. Now she will probably associate those warning tones with incoming storms. (BTW, 0.75" of rain fell.)

I tried to get some photos this morning, but the cloud cover and the wind made it difficult. The climbing rose is peaking. One lonely scabiosa poked its head above the weeds in the front of the house. 'Jethro Tull' is recovering nicely from its transplant operation. And the 'Health Kick' tomato has blossoms.

A co-worker told me her neighbor advised her to pick off the first tomato blossoms. I have never heard of this. I think the only time I would do this is if the tomatoes were blossoming before nighttime temperatures stayed above 50 degrees, but I usually don't put out my tomatoes until then anyway. Besides, you can never have a too-early tomato from the garden.

A book I am perusing is Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza. It's another no-work gardening book, but I am going to give this method a try. The basic premise is, instead of tilling and digging and throwing out your back, you create garden beds by layering compostable materials, starting with newspaper to kill the sod. I have plenty of newspaper, but coming up with the rest of the ingredients will be difficult, especially now that I have no trees in the backyard. In the fall, I can invite my neighbors to just toss their leaves over the fence, but in the meantime, I guess I will purchase some of what I need, like sphagnum moss.

Today the estimator from a local construction company is supposed to come to, well, give me an estimate on my room addition. He was supposed to come Thursday but rescheduled, then was supposed to come Friday but had car trouble. We'll see if he shows up today. Not a good first impression. I ordered "Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite 8.0" from Amazon because I am anxious about anyone understanding what it is that I want. Also, this remodeling is giving me more ideas about making my house more livable. The software package includes a landscaping module. Woo-hoo!